Rare hybrid eclipse graces the sky

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – A partial eclipse, part of a rare hybrid solar eclipse, was visible from parts of the United States and other parts of the world on Sunday.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – The hybrid eclipse was a rare event because it was an annular-total eclipse, meaning it was annular for part of its path and total for other parts, NASA said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Photographer Matthew Hecht woke up early to photograph the event.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Jeff Raybould took advantage of his apartment view early in the morning and photographed the eclipse. "I've never seen a solar eclipse. ... I'd love to observe a total eclipse at some point," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Greg Hogan drove his son and his nephew to see the eclipse in Bonaire, Georgia. "It was beautiful," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Rick Ho sent this photo in via Twitter. "I thought I had missed (the eclipse). I didn't realize (until) later while editing the photos that I saw the moon in front of the sun," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Early bird Allen Siegel left his sleeping family and drove out to the Long Island, New York, to photograph the eclipse. He says it lasted for a minute in terms of visibility before it disappeared into the clouds.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – When Luis Figueroa tried to photograph the eclipse from his home in New York City, he discovered the sun was too bright. "So I added my homemade solar filter to [my camera] lens. When I looked through the view finder I was amazed," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Chris Johnston and his 11-year-old son watched the eclipse from an access road in Chesterfield, Virginia, so that they could get a clear view. "My son didn't want to get out of bed. But once he got dressed and was looking through the telescope, he thought it was really cool," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – While photographing migrating waterfowl at Delaware's Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge, Charlie Long captured the eclipse early Sunday morning.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Tony Rice photographed the eclipse, which he described as a dripping sun, from Myrtle, South Carolina.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – William England could not see the eclipse with his naked eye while out in Titusville, Florida. But he took photos of the sunrise anyway. Only later did he realize he captured the solar event through his camera.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Kendra Eigenhuis almost didn't get up because she read the eclipse wouldn't be visible in her area of Cumming, Georgia. "But I had never seen an eclipse before and decided to take a chance," she said. "The view was breathtaking."

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – When Luis Figueroa tried to photograph the eclipse from his home in New York City, he discovered the sun was too bright. "So I added my homemade solar filter to [my camera] lens. When I looked through the view finder I was amazed," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – While vacationing in St. Georges, Bermuda, Gareth Seltzer saw the eclipse. "I looked out the window and found the sun so bright I was not able to see it and knew immediately that something remarkable and rare to witness was underway," he said.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Cindy Branscome stood at the edge of the ocean on the Isle of Palms, South Carolina, to photograph the eclipse. She said she vaguely remembers seeing an eclipse several years ago, but this time was more special because she loves photography now.

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Photos:Your photos of the eclipse

Your photos of the eclipse – Richard Hay stood on St. Augustine Beach Pier in Florida to photograph the eclipse. He says this was one of the most unique eclipses he has ever seen "because the sky was so dramatic with the clouds out on the horizon."

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Story highlights

One of the most interesting solar events, a rare hybrid eclipse, happened over the weekend

Partial eclipse was visible in the early morning Sunday in eastern North and South America

Skygazers in parts of Europe, Africa and the Middle East could see it too

The hybrid eclipse was only visible from parts of Atlantic Ocean and equatorial Africa

Some skygazers along the East Coast of North America witnessed a spectacular solar eclipse Sunday morning.

The eclipse was visible for a few minutes from parts of North America, South America, the Middle East, Europe, and Africa.

NASA said the eclipse would be one of the most interesting solar events of the year, because it was a hybrid annular-total eclipse. That means for part of its path, it was an annular eclipse -- where a thin ring of sunlight is visible around the moon's shadow -- and for another part, it was a total eclipse.

That phenomenon was only visible from a narrow band of the North Atlantic and equatorial Africa, NASA said. In a much broader area, viewers saw a partial eclipse. But photographers in the eastern United States liked what they saw.

Jeff Raybould photographed the eclipse from his apartment in Wilmington, Delaware. "I'm onthe 15th floor, and I knew I had a great view of the sunrise, so I set my alarm and crossed my fingers that the clouds would cooperate," he said.

For him, the eclipse lasted only five minutes before the sun ducked behind the clouds. "By that time it was too hard to observe anyway due to the increasing brightness of the sun," he explained. "But I'm glad the clouds cooperated. I've never seen a solar eclipse and just found out yesterday that I would have a prime opportunity this morning."

Military photojournalist Matthew Hecht woke up at 6 a.m. to see the much-anticipated eclipse. An avid follower of space and science news, Hecht set his camera up in front of his home in Absecon, New Jersey, and started taking photographs.

"I pointed the camera and tried not to look through the lens because it was so intense. I was constantly adjusting the camera to make sure I was still pointing at it. I just got lucky," he said about the images he captured.

Despite reports that the eclipse would only last a few minutes, Hecht says he was surprised to see the event last more than 10 minutes. "It was unbelievably vivid. I have never seen an eclipse at sunrise before. It was actually very haunting. It looked like something out of a movie," he said.

Greg Hogan said he only saw the partial eclipse for a few short minutes. Hogan photographed the eclipse during a chance opportunity. He read about the event the night before but forgot about it soon after. When he woke up Sunday morning, he realized the eclipse would be happening in 20 minutes.

He puthis 5-year-old son and 6-year-old nephew in his car while they were all still in their pajamas and drove them to the highest point in their town of Bonaire, Georgia, which is an elementary school called Hilltop.

"There were a few other people hanging out there to see the eclipse. It was surprising, but sort of neat," he said. He and his boys watched the eclipse happen over the horizon. "My kids thought it was really cool. They are really into Minecraft -- a video game where you watch the sun rise and set -- and showing them a real life version of that was great," he said.